


and when you kiss me, i am happy enough to die

by Entr0py



Category: Red Queen - Victoria Aveyard
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, I Will Go Down With This Ship, M/M, i'll add more later, if i ever update this again
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-08 02:35:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10375932
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Entr0py/pseuds/Entr0py
Summary: i'm not calling you a liar, just don't lie to me. i'm not calling you a thief, just don't steal from me. i'm not calling you a ghost, just stop haunting me -- and i love you so much, i'm gonna let you kill me.Maven loves Thomas. And Thomas loves Maven. The two would do practically anything for each other, even it involves killing and spying and hiding.Thomas is Maven and his mother's contact to the Guard, quiet but steadfast. Maven is the most determined lover he could be in turn, and so the two shadows are happy together.





	

**Author's Note:**

> based off of a prompt by chaoslaborantin (here: https://chaoslaborantin.tumblr.com/post/158375959003/red-queen-writing-prompts )
> 
> please can the fandom write more of my baby boys
> 
> maven is 17 and thomas is 19!

Maven avoids tapping his fork against his plate.

It was a habit of his. The _chink, chink, chink_ was grating on most people’s ears but strangely calming to him. The sounds of metal had always been fairly appealing to him, smooth and ringing. Lucky for him. Tomorrow Evangeline Samos, with her coy smile and easy metalbending, will probably be announced Cal’s consort, and then he would never be without the sounds of metal again.

Well. Until he was king. Even then, that is debatable. Evangeline is a strong possibility for marriage, after all, her family is powerful and influential enough to be _very_  worth marrying into. He lifts his hand to tap his fork against his plate again, then thinks better of it and starts carefully cutting into the sirloin laid out in front of him.

Maven glances to his father.

Drunk, probably. Or at least halfway there. ~~Elara~~ Mother casts him a scrutinizing look when he calls for more water. She knows what he’s doing, but he knows that in the end it doesn’t really matter.

Thomas slips over from the shadows. It shouldn’t be him. Mother knows this, scoffing lightly to herself, which draws Cal’s attention to her. _Good_. Thomas reaches over to pour him a glass of water, brushing his shoulder carelessly with Maven’s. Maven’s eyes dart to Cal, who’s sitting across from him and desperately trying to engage his father in conversation about Queenstrial tomorrow.

It’s a good enough distraction for Maven to twitch his fingers against Thomas’s palm when he pulls back. There’s a hint of a smile there, then Thomas vanishes again.

Mother surveys him over her glass of wine with narrowed eyes. Watch yourself, child, her expression says. Maven refrains from sighing just to not draw Cal or his father’s attention. Being with Thomas, she constantly reminds him, is a luxury he can just barely afford. It was just luck that Thomas agreed to be a contact for the Scarlet Guard should the need ever come up, because otherwise he’s sure Mother would have removed him from the castle. Permanently.

“Mavey,” Cal says. Maven’s head turns towards him, twisting his mouth into that annoyed-but-endeared frown that he knows always amuses Cal so much. “Which of the Queenstrial ladies appeal to you?”

Maven snorts. Cal is clearly trying to distract himself from tomorrow. “Not Evangeline, that’s for sure,” he quips, lilting his voice to seem cheery. “Perhaps I will have to interact with them more. I’m not sure.”

Cal nods quickly. Maven lifts his water to his lips and tries not to think of Thomas.

* * *

“I don’t know why they’re requiring me to attend,” huffs Maven. He cringes when Thomas yanks on a particularly big knot in his curly hair. “Ow.”

“Well, love,” says Thomas kindly, moving on to brush another section of the prince’s unruly curls, “if I had to take a guess, it’d be wanting to show solidarity.” He pauses, then straightens out Maven’s collar, frowning. “Not that you didn’t know that. But your little high houses are kind of scared of the Guard. He’ll want to impress them, I assume?”

Maven sighs as Thomas shifts around to fix his tie. “Yes, he will.” No doubt about it. Tiberias VI has no room for Reds who aren’t servants in his lif. And Cal, if he became king, would probably follow suit out of pressure from the High Houses. Maven isn’t stupid. He knows the power of the High Houses on the royal family, but for Thomas, Maven would do what he must. Probably not any Reds in government offices, but still, he had promised Thomas….

Equality. Of some sort. And he would do almost everything to make Thomas happy, to make Thomas feel loved.

 The prince takes a quick glance around the room before leaning forward and murmuring, “And with the Guard–”

Thomas’s expression remains light and open. “Whatever you need, highness,” he whispers, pecking Maven’s forehead, “I will supply it.”

* * *

He had originally met Thomas on the war front. He was merely fifteen then, and he was cold, and he was desperate to go back home. And one day he had just…. met him. Seventeen-year-old Thomas, that is. There was a period of them being “just friends” until Maven finally realized how much he wanted to be more than _just friends_ with Thomas. Until he noticed how much he was noticing the little things about the boy; his somehow perfectly bright smile, his weird laugh, the freckles on his cheeks, his dimples - all of it.

Maven had resigned himself to never tell Thomas this. Ever. There were just too many reasons not to. They were from completely different parts of Norta, their blood colors were different, he wasn’t even sure if Thomas liked boys like he did, and even if by some miracle the boy he loved loved him back he would have to leave for Whitefire palace sometime very soon.

And when he kissed Thomas - well. That was _definitely_ an accident. Definitely.

He’d pulled away, his cheeks coated in silver blush, and apologized profusely. “I’m so sorry,” he’d blurted, “I didn’t–er, I mean– oh, no.” In that moment, whatever etiquette training Maven had been put through was out the window. He had never really acted like that before, and he’d soon learn that he really only acted that way around Thomas.

Thomas had laughed. Full on laughed, gleefully, and kind of snorting while he did it. Maven had nearly died then - he was sure that Thomas thought he was stupid and silly and their friendship would never be the same ever again. “You’re so cute,” said Thomas fondly, and then he leaned over and kissed Maven again.

Maven’s sure that he’ll never quite forget it.

And then there was the problem of leaving. It would happen soon. And for a while Maven was in a state between happiness and heartbreak; he would have his love but would have to leave him; until he came up with an idea. It involved getting Thomas’s last name and bullying - sorry, _pressuring_ his brother and mother into giving him what he wanted.

So by Queenstrial, Maven was a relatively happy prince with a Red servant boyfriend that he’d managed to keep a secret from everyone except his mother for two years or so – there was but one more thing he needed. When the Red girl with lightning fell into the Queenstrial arena, his mother came up with a wonderful plan.

* * *

“Marry her,” Elara tells him simply.

Maven freezes. “Marry her,” he says softly, not utterly shocked by the whole thing but surprised enough. Why, Maven had expected a loveless marriage to a Silver girl, an engagement and a child made solely for alliances between whatever house that was and House Calore. But he’d expected that alliance to be one of _his_  choosing - a life where he could make his own decisions and still be happy with Thomas in the end, even if Thomas did deserve a better title than a mere consort. Cal is the one who was supposed to be forced to marry a certain daughter by Mother and Tiberias. Not him!

“Yes, marry her, Maven. And do not _whine_.” Maven stares bleakly at her. At least there was one good thing her removing all that fear had done. Mother sighs, shaking her head. “My son,” she says softly, taking one of his hands in hers, “you know I love you. I’m only doing this to benefit you.”

Yes, he knows that. Reluctantly he lets his shoulders drop, let her win as she always won. At least he knows that his mother had his best interests in mind.

Mother smiles, pleased. “This could be your chance, Maven. To be king.” _To be king,_  she whispers in his mind at the same time. “This girl is our gateway.” Our. “To your success,” she adds.

He narrows his eyes at her. Carefully he removes his hand from her wrist, and whispers, “How?”

**Author's Note:**

> also i hope this doesnt come off as justifiying maven?? the lying and manipulation and murdering is still there. he has like, slightly more emotion here. but only slightly. (and this is from his pov so i mean. u get it probably)


End file.
